Sharing what God lays on my heart.

My Gluten-Free Story

It all started a few years ago. Some close friends of mine went gluten-free (GF) to help with some symptoms their children were having. They went to see an amazing MD up north who focuses on the cause of problems and not just treating the symptoms.

I found an article on yahoonews.com that basically said if you aren’t allergic to gluten then you should still eat it. Stating that grains are a vital part of ones’ diet. So I continued on with our lifestyle. We were eliminating high fructose corn syrup, limiting sugar, eating whole foods and whole grains.

In April of 2012 I had some intense gall bladder attacks. I asked a few people about it. Some said to see a nutritionist, some said to do a gall bladder cleanse, and others said to see my doctor. I opted to see my doctor. He, took a phone call during my visit, and ordered an ultrasound. A receptionist called back and said there were no gall stones and suggested I might have sprained something. 2 weeks later I ended up in the hospital and had my gall bladder removed because it was no longer functioning at 50%, it was functioning at 12% . I fired that doctor.

Ever since then I have had some digestive problems. In November it seemed like I had a gastrointestinal bug for 3 weeks. I felt so terribly sick. I ended up going to the ER just in case it was another organ that decided it didn’t want to work anymore. They asked questions, gave me a concoction of sorts, observed me for 2 hours. I did not get any better. They released me saying that 70% of digestive ailments go undiagnosed. I took that to mean…you’re on your own.

So I took what God gave me and started to do some deeper research. I started with gluten. I read some articles and found one that suggested all my symptoms plus migraines, fibromyalgia, and other degenerative diseases can be caused by gluten intolerance. The article suggested that you write down your symptoms and take out gluten for 1 month. Then eat a large gluten meal. I took out gluten of 1 week. My digestive symptoms were gone in 3 days. After 7 days I ate some pizza and within an hour I felt like I had the worst stomach bug ever. So we became gluten free.

It was tough at first. Almost a bit depressing. I thought we would all starve. That is how much gluten we ate. I tried to find some enzymes that would help me eat all the gluten I wanted and not get sick. I did find some, but I still got sick. So I had to find other things for my family to eat. Meals at first were not great, and I would repeat my favorite GF meals. Then I started to read blogs of GF recipes and use some GF flours…and I am not missing gluten at all. I even found a better pizza crust!